Dan McDonough, Jr., of Wireless.NewsFactor.com, recently interviewed analysts from IDC, Aberdeen Group, and Yankee Group to get input on what the perfect PDA would include. Each analyst described exactly what he or she wanted in a PDA, with an eye toward whether these features were important to the typical enterprise PDA owner. The first analyst based his dream PDA on the BlackBerry 957 from RIM. He chose the BlackBerry because it does one thing and does it well, and he likes the form-factor and keyboard. Added to that one thing–in this case always-on e-mail–though, he wanted personalized, intuitive features: location-based services to provide directions, traffic, and weather details, and wizards to set up difficult services. The next analyst agreed that in-bound e-mail is vital, but proposed that out-bound e-mail is not too critical. Therefore, he said, keyboards are not necessary, and make the devices too big. He suggested that voice-centric PDAs are best, such as smartphones. He also points out that he wants his mobile mail to be Outlook-compatible. The final analyst differs with the last, insisting on keyboards for PDAs. She also stresses small form factor, though, and says that color is not an option–it's a requirement. Wireless.NewsFactor.com reports “Building the Dream Mobile Device.” I may not be a high-phalutin'(how do you spell that word?) analyst, but I will add my opinion. More and more people are coming to the conclusion that a PDA without some sort of wireless capability is pointless. I know there are still a lot of you out there who disagree with that, and just want a basic PIM PDA. I can appreciate that, but once you have received e-mail wirelessly, you can never go back. Because of that, I think a merger of PDAs and phones is inevitable. Since that wireless e-mail I spoke of is so addictive, keyboards will probably lay claim to handhelds. No matter how good handwriting recognition gets, it will still be faster to type, in my opinion. The next step is to innovate that keyboard to fit into really tiny spaces but work comfortably. Virtual keyboards? Maybe. Fold-up keyboards? I don't know–nothing out there yet is very compelling. What's in your dream PDA?

USER COMMENTS 14 comment(s)

More than a PDA. . .(10:20am EST Thu Jul 25 2002)I'm waiting for the device from to come out. With built-in Bluetooth to talk to mobile phones, printers, and (hopefully soon) peripherals like folding keyboards, it would be all I would ever need (as soon as someone makes it Linux-friendly. . .) - by Aaron

There is already voice recognition software to build a “call me on the phone Selma” which could be changed to a room present computer like the Star Trek ship computers.

Voice does have limitations of privacy so don't look for the death of the keyboard until office walls get thicker.

PDA will need to be in a variety of sizes from cell phones to the hand units with pull out flexible screen like in “Earth Final Conflict” or “Red Planet”

Ironicly AI must come back to the forefront of computer research and there aren't enough AI programmers. The market is currently flooded with “get a free toaster” with this course programmers who don't know the first thing about AI or writing efficient programs.

Even the eraly AI languages like Prolog and Lisp will bring the best computers to their knees if they are writen optimally.

I weep for the future…- by Illuminati

Weep for me too(10:22am EST Thu Jul 25 2002)For I can not spell.. - by Illuminati

Let me get it right(10:25am EST Thu Jul 25 2002)Even the early AI languages like Prolog and Lisp will bring the best computers to their knees if they are not writen optimally. - by Illuminati

MY dream machine, based on Psion Revo(12:11pm EST Thu Jul 25 2002)Psion was working on a prototype that was a Communicator device like the Nokia 9210/9290, except Psion's was based on the Psion Revo platform…nice and small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, but the keys are big enough to type quickly (I can type on my Revo faster than I can write), and unlike the 9210/90 the Revo Communicator has a touchscreen.

Unfortunately, when Nokia came out with the 9210 Psion gave up on this project.

The Revo Communicator is the top one on the following link, - by Mike F from PEAT

Input Method(2:35pm EST Thu Jul 25 2002)No reason why we can't have good, reliable handwriting recognition. 2 important advantage are that it lets you maximize the size of the screen in such a small form factor and that you don't have to pull anything, you simply start writing as you would on paper.

And yes, it should still support other input methods too. - by HWR

HWR…(3:29pm EST Thu Jul 25 2002)What you're looking for is a tablet PC, that also has a keyboard that is hidden when you use it in tablet mode, but is exposed when you use it in laptop mode. - by Hmmmmm……

PDA's have come a long way, and seem to be waiting for application developers to catch up. There has been little innovation in the software used by people to manage thier day-to-day tasks, etc.

There are things that could be added to a PDA to make it a little better, always on wireless, more storage, and 802.11b wireless like capability for in the home. But.. Software has to be improved. - by Just a thought.

Dream PDA(5:50pm EST Thu Jul 25 2002)is the size of a penny. It projects, onto your eyes, the desktop, so that you see it as your entire field of vision, with a small window to actually see the outside world. Using electronic signals, it sends music to your ear. To move, you attach a clip to your finger, and move it around, much as in virtual reality. Oh yea, and it has a 40 gig harddrive and can burn CD's by shooting a laser… and it can burn other people :). - by Warplex

Re Better to ask…(12:11am EST Fri Jul 26 2002)Just about everything we do with computers has been based on past technologies and techniques. The typewriter keyboard, the stylus/pen, and the software, like agenda and to-do's is mostly based on paper versions.

No one (that I have seen) has come up with anything innovative to replace the built-in organizers. Then again, if there is something innovative people might reject it as it's too weird or too much of a learning curve.

An example is the Dasher text entry method mentioned a while back. Totally innovative in terms of a text entry method, most people still find the keyboard or graffiti better.

Maybe not so much the software itself, but the PDA as a whole…it took me weeks to find a PDA I actually liked, and it wasn't until I came across a Psion that I found a PDA I was happy with, which I then bought 30 minutes later. - by Mike F from PEAT

It was still born….(6:10am EST Fri Jul 26 2002)it was the Conan from Psion. It looked like the Revo with a small hump where the battery is. Why the hump?….it had bluetooth incorporated into it. It's bluetooth was far ahead of its time as the Conan was meant to be the master controlling up to 6 – 8 devices. It was very exciting as you had the R520 in your pocket and check and sending emails etc.

Oh yes…one more thing unlike the Revo it had a backlight…..BLUE of course in honour of BLUEtooth . This was the Psion that was canned when they announced the withdrawal from the consumer market. - by Nick

Re: Revo Communicator hump…(11:33am EST Fri Jul 26 2002)Only hump that I see is the cup for the positioning the ear. - by Hmmmmm……

Handera heaven and beyond…(11:50pm EST Sat Jul 27 2002)I like many of the suggestions I see in previous comments and would like to point out some of the things that Handera has done really well with their 330 model. Firstly they based it on a Palm 3xe and kept the flip cover-smart move. They thought dual power option was good so you have the choice of a rechargable (excellent battery btw)or using 4 AAA batteries. Another well done feature is the dual memory slots which make you really flexible. You have SD and CF (yes microdrive and 802). VERY groovy baby especially if you want to be snapped into your portable keyboard, running your wireless 802 or CF to cell connection while still having extended memory on your SD card. Fantastic critical data backup giving you a three deep cushion. Whatever the future of PDAs look like, these features are worth keeping. On the future note though, I think we can all agree that we are headed for more power, larger capacities, speech to text and possibly the incorporation of notebook type drives with large memory buffers. Something of this nature is needed due to music and other forms of entertainment being a near must at this stage of the game. I can see pda's being THE heart and brain of future laptops which snap in/out for portability. Who knows. Hope this contributes. - by Mike